It was the evening of Resurrection Sunday—the evening after Jesus had appeared to Mary Magdalene (as told in John’s gospel). The disciples were gathered together behind locked doors our of fear that they might be the next target of the religious authorities (John 20:19). They were still living out of an old reality—that Jesus was dead, killed by his enemies—in spite of Mary’s testimony that she had seen him alive. The resurrection had happened, but it had made no impact on them or their lives—at least, not yet. It was not, in their minds, a reality.
Then Jesus stood in their midst and spoke to them. One minute he wasn’t there; the next, he was standing in their midst. That’s when the resurrection became a reality for them. That’s when it began to impact and shape their lives.
The gospel writer packed a lot into a few short verses—the validation of the resurrection, the gift of peace, the gift of the Spirit (Pentecost in the gospel of John), an assignment for their lives (the Great Commission in the gospel of John), and authority to proclaim forgiveness (John 20:23). Each of these are related.
Jesus’s presence validated the testimony of Mary Magdalene. Jesus indeed was alive! He had been raised. They too had encountered the Risen Christ! The resurrection was a reality—a reality that had the power to shape—yea, transform—their lives.
The Risen Christ gave to them the gift of peace. Twice, he said to them, “Peace be with you” (John 20:19, 21). Before his death, he had promised them the gift of peace. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid” (John 14:26-27). Now, in assurance of the resurrection, in experiencing his presence, they could know his peace—peace with God, inner peace that calmed their sense of guilt and shame, peace that quietened their fear of what might happen to them. All of that inner dis-ease and debilitating anxiety was replaced with his gift of peace.
His gift of peace was associated with the gift of the Spirit. The apostle Paul wrote peace was a gift of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Jesus breathed on them, bestowing on them the gift of the Spirit. The gospel writer drew on the imagery found in Genesis 2. There, the Lord God breathed into the lifeless form he had fashioned from the earth and the form became a living being—Adam. Here, Jesus breathed the Spirit into his disciples. They came alive in a new way—alive with the very life of God through the Spirit. They experienced the life of the Spirit at work in them and through them. They became Spirit-filled, Spirit-guided, and Spirit-empowered.
The gift of the Spirit empowered them for the work Jesus gave them to do. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21). The central message of the gospel of John was the Father had sent Jesus, the Son, to reveal the Father (John 1:14, 18)—that is, that we might know what God is like at the core of God’s being, that we might know the steadfast, faithful love that fills the heart of God. Jesus was sent that we might know the Father personally and experience God’s grace and forgiveness in our own lives. “From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16). Now, empowered by the Spirit, his followers were to continue his work—helping people know the love-filled heart of God, helping them open their lives to God so they would know God personally, helping them claim and live out of God’s grace and forgiveness.
This Spirit-empowered commission centered in the awesome authority to proclaim God’s forgiveness so others could experience it in their own lives. It also included the terrifying responsibility of withholding forgiveness. They (we) withheld forgiveness by failing to proclaim its reality, thereby offering others the opportunity to open their lives to its transforming power.
The reality of the resurrection has life-shaping, life-transforming power. When it becomes real to us, it leads us into the inner peace of Christ. It fills us with the life of the Spirit, empowering us to love as Jesus loved. It gives us a new purpose in life—helping others know this God of self-giving, servant love that we have come to know through the Risen Christ, helping others experience God’s grace and forgiveness—which brings the peace of Christ—in their lives.
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